SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — The best single-season, starting-pitching performance in Rockies history belongs to Ubaldo Jimenez.

In 2010, Jimenez finished 19-8 with a 2.88 ERA in 33 starts. He set a franchise record with 214 strikeouts and finished third in voting for the National League Cy Young Award. He tossed a no-hitter at Atlanta. At the all-star break, the right-hander with the funky delivery was 15-1 with a 2.20 ERA, good enough to be the NL’s starting pitcher in the Midsummer Classic.

Call me crazy — and some of you will — but I think Jon Gray is poised to be even better this season.

Yes, I know what the skeptics are going to say: “The last time we saw Gray pitch, he was melting down in the wild-card playoff game vs. the Diamondbacks at Chase Field. That’s not the performance of an ace.”

Those skeptics would be right. Gray was not an ace the night the D-backs sunk their teeth into his fat pitches. He gave up four runs on seven hits and recorded just four outs, the shortest start of his big-league career and the shortest postseason start in Rockies history.

But I think the hard lesson of that night will propel Gray to the next level. I’ve talked to him many times since that terrible performance and I’m convinced he’ll become a better pitcher because of it.

“An ace is a guy who is almost guaranteed to win every game, like (Clayton) Kershaw,” Gray said. “But not every team has that guy. I mean, maybe only seven or eight really do. But that’s the goal, and that’s where you want to be. I’m not there yet, I know that. I was really happy with my consistency last year, but I don’t think my pitches had the movement they did (in 2016). I think if I can combine those things, I do have a chance to reach that level.”

Rockies pitching coach Steve Foster, who helped nurture Gray during his first three seasons in Colorado, went to great lengths to make sure Gray didn’t dwell on the playoff debacle.

“It’s about positives over negatives,” Foster said. “One game doesn’t define you, and that’s what we made sure he understood.”

When Jimenez pitched his dream season, he was 26 years old. His heavy, sinking fastball averaged 96.7 mph. He was a dominant pitcher, but his mechanics proved unsustainable and he’s never reached those heights again.

Gray, now 26, is on his way to become a more complete pitcher than Jimenez ever was. Gray’s arsenal expanded last season to include about 57 percent fastballs, 28 percent sliders, 14 percent curves and a sprinkling of changeups. Perhaps his fastball doesn’t overwhelm hitters the way Jimenez’s did, but it still hums at 96 mph. Plus, Gray’s delivery is more consistent and more fixable than Jimenez’s.

After coming back from an early-season foot injury, Gray finished 2017 with a 10-4 record, and a 3.67 ERA, while averaging 9.14 strikeouts and 2.45 walks per nine innings. In 2010, Jimenez averaged 8.7 strikeouts and 3.7 walks per nine. In other words, Gray has a chance to be more dominant than Jimenez was over a full season.

Need more convincing? Leading up to the playoff disaster, Gray pitched like a true ace. He allowed three or fewer earned runs in 13 consecutive starts, going 7-3 with a 2.64 ERA and 80 strikeouts vs. just 16 walks.

Bottom line: If Gray learns from his playoff nightmare, instead of allowing it to haunt him, he’s primed to become one of the best pitchers in baseball.

The hard-throwing right-hander Carlos Estevez, who has designs on being a late-game reliever for the Rockies, had "a little setback" with his injured left oblique and won't be ready to open the regular season.